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Weight Gainers: What did YOU eat today?

I am copying the many times copied thread, "What did you eat today?" in hopes of helping some of those who are just starting to gain and have no clue what to eat. I know that when I began weight recovery, I was eating tons of low-cal foods just because that's what I was used to. I learned the hard way that dense foods are essential to weight gain when you have high caloric requirements (at one point I needed 4500 cal to maintain my weight on BEDREST). Perhaps newbies can get some ideas if we post our weight gain meal plans! Even if you're not gaining anymore, grab an old one and post it!:]
Please note that every body is different and some will need more or less calories than others to gain. This thread is just so that you can get an idea of what you need.
Oh, and yes, I'm breaking the "no calories, no portions" rule, since it is pretty helpful in this case. If you want to post cals/portions you can. I just ask that you don't post if you're not eating enough, though as this is a weight gain thread, I would hope none of you are undereating.;]
I'll start....
Breakfast (875 cal)*

• 1/2 cup oatmeal (150) cooked with
• 1 cup evaporated whole milk (300)
• 1 mashed banana (100)
• 2 tbsp peanut butter (200)
• 1 tbsp ground flaxseed and cinnamon to taste (50) 
• 1 hard-boiled egg (75 cal)

Morning Snack (300 cal)*

• 1/4 cup mixed nuts (200)
• 1/4 cup dried apricots (100)

Lunch (660 cal)*

• 1/4 cup rice cooked in 1 cup chicken stock (300) and
• 1/2 cup canned or cooked chickpeas (145) and
• 1/3 cup shredded cheese (150) and
• 1/4 cup each onion, peppers, and tomato (30) cooked with
• 1 tbsp olive oil and curry powder to taste (120)

Afternoon snack (390 cal)*

• 1 serving baby carrots (35)
• 1/4 cup hummus (155)
• 1/4 cup mixed nuts (200)

Dinner (875 cal)*

• 1 cup of my insane Mac & Cheese recipe (515)
• 2 cups tossed salad (45)
• 2 tbsp rasins (60)
• 2 tbsp sunflower seeds (105)
• 2 tbsp dressing (150)

Evening snack (480)*

• 1 cup plain whole milk yogurt (180)
• 1/2 cup homemade granola (300)

About 3600 calories :]

switch from non or lowfat to fuller fat versions, nuts, dried fruit, sometimes easier said than done.  choose higher cal food so you dont have to eat more.  i forget, do you have treats?  have some ice cream or something.  have you gained yet?  you should gauge your progress in order to know how many cals you need.  im no expert at all but i think more than 1700, especially for a teen, is needed.

still curious about measuring the ice cream! lol

i dont have treats :( my treat would be healthier versions..haha this sucks..I love ice cream but I'm scared of eating it :O. oh yeah look at my edit ^

 

i used to be a little scared but everthing in moderation, or you can try individual sefvings.  you can be healthy and still have a daily treat, but its not the biggest deal.  PB+J sandwiches or whatever can do the trick too.  i can eeat ice cream and treats, as long as i know how many cals im having, its harder when i go to a random ice cream place or something.

wed-

thomas' bagel square, pb, apple~350

cereal, milk, trail mix-200

roll, cheese, AXELROD BANANA CREME YOGURT (so good), bunch of cut-up veggies, pudding cup, blueberries, apricot~400

~1 cup ice cream~200+

kashi vive cereal, milk, veg salald+trail mix, apricot~360

apple, yogurt~250  random picking throughout day

hi angel eyes - i know exactly how you feel. i was quite chubby as a kid so pre ed i was encouraged to eat low fat/low cal stuff. now i need to gain weight - i just cant get out of that mind set and am terrified of going back to full fat etc. as ive said in another thread - i know i should but cant gt my head to do it!hmmm maybe we should ONLY buy full fat things so we get so hungry we have to eat it regardless ;o)

i have the occasional treats but never really set out to eat them as part of my plan - they just kind of slip in. hopefulyy, if i go away in a week or so, i will be eating non diet food all the time and it can help change my mindset.

do you have much to gain? what are your stats if you dont mind? do you exercise at all?

p.s -argu, what ice cream do you have out of interest?? ;oP

SUZY-ussually EDYS ice cream, not always light though.  some of the "loaded" versions or AMERICAN IDOL variety are pretty low. 

still wondering if ppl pack it down tight when measuring!? lol

yesterday my younger sister got on a diet and asked me for advice.. and then all my "tips" that i used to apply on myself months ago came into my head agin.. then i felt so weird, like, missing my flat empty stomach, the light feeling as now i'm always bloated, and the fact that i wasn't eating=wasn't gaining...now it's all different, all making me feel worse about myself. i know it's bad, unheathy, stupid to be back like that...ok i'll stop rampling.sorry

breakfast: mini  wheats with skimmed milk + wholewheat toast with nutella 300 cals

snack: orange juice + chinese crackers+ 2 fruits 600 cals

lunch: grilled fish + some iceberg lettuce+apple juice 200 cals

dinner: lean turkey +  maasdam cheese + wholewheat toast  1/2 sandwich +lemonade 300 cals

exercised 4 hrs..~this is getting worse~..cycling + aerobics + walking

something else, i'm really confuse about how many calories i should consume to maintain weight, as i'm 16, 5ft2 and currently 92 lbs.. also very active, some sites say at least 2000 cals, but other peaple who are also 5ft2 here, say they maintain at 1700 cals fine, which is very different to the 2500 cals nutrition sites recommend..how should i know?? do u guys think i should stick with my current diet? like am i having enough calories and the right food and stuff?

wistfulxthinking :      thanks a mill for the advice. i think im gonna look for that ovaltine poweder u mentioned, do u buy it in health shops an stuff? the fortisip drinks i take are ok theyre filling though and at take some getting used to, the taste is very strong but they come in loads of flavours like vanilla, strawberry, banana and lots more but i can only manage the vanilla ones, i hate them but there from my doctor/the ed centre i go to so i have to take them and i get them on prescrition so i dont pay much for them at all.

how will i no if my metab is completely damaged at this stage? like for a year now i have mostly maintained the same weight so i must be doing something good , right?

my main problem with starting to gain weight is up to this point whenever i eat more than i feel is normal for me it turns into a binge and purge sorta thing , i can never just accept what ive eaten and walk away, it always sets off something that just turns into a binge and ive tried so hard these past few months to beat the bulimia side to my ed and have done really well with only a few relapces ( a few this month unfortunatly). does anyone else find they have this prob?

x

Very nervous today. My aunt, uncle and cousin are staying with us today. My mom bought a whole bunch of junk for them to eat. Junk includes: dough nuts, potato chips, mini Chips Ahoys, white rolls with no nutrition label and non WW bagels. I'm rather angry at her, because she picked the foods that would be hardest for me to eat. I might have to improvise a bit, because those things are too much for me. I'm having a fat day so I don't feel like eat much of anything, let alone chips or something.

Breakfast- Oatmeal with pumpkin, mini WW bagel with SNB, nectarine, egg

Snack- String cheese and blueberries

Lunch- WW cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese, Rachel's yogurt, pumpernickel pretzels (my mom bought these. These are safe enough.), plum

I have no idea what the rest of the day will be. My mom thinks we should order out for pizza... eugh.

Hey everyone! I'm back! The eating was definitely good in France, the baguettes and pastries and pasta and gelato, oh my! And I still managed to eat more than my family and all my extra snacks. BUT unfortunately, with all the walking and without my usual loads of supplements and nut butters I lost like 5 lbs!! I don't understand because I feel like I look so much better and I was feeling pretty good in my swimsuit and my pants I could have sworn were tighter, aghhhhh maybe my scale is wrong? I'll check again tomorrow morning just in case the traveling threw me off. I freaked out this morning and had like a cup of almonds, cup of whole milk with honey, tons of oatmeal made with nuts, whole milk and cherries. Luckily I woke up really early from the jet lag so that means extra time to eat today!

I overcame a bunch of fear foods too, seriously, gelato at least once a day and I LOVED the pasta, we were right on the italian border and it was so good. And french bread with everything. what's weird is I still cant get over cheese. I've managed kefir cheese, and cottage cheese at home, but I couldnt really eat the pizza while I was there because of the cheese. It's crazy because then I'd go get a big ice cream, it doesnt make sense.

I'm so excited to see all these new people and get new ideas and start cooking for myself again!

hi everyone-

no one responded to me about the ice cream?  do you pack it down tightly when measuring?  it seems i may have lost 1.5lbs frpm last wk, not sure if its bc last wk i weighed on wed and this wk on thurs?

RELENA-youre young, active, and are you gaining?  id guess that you deff need 2000+ to gain, at least.  its trial and error, calculators wont be 1000%.  the more you excercise, which you should really try to cut out, the mroe you ned to eat. 4 hrs is tooooo much!

AQUA-dont worry about regualr bagels, i eat cinnamon raisin or plain or whatever.  its not a big can diff.  pizza also, 1 slice is not bad at all, have w/a  slalad or whatever.  how was BK?  good luck!

GIBBIT-congrats!!!  gelato is soooo good, so are all the fresh baked foods there.  lol

hia all..i want to say well done to everyone youre all doing so well :)

gibbit- congrats on doing so well on holiday its great you got over your fear foods, i went to rome earlier in the year and fell in love with gelato too :P

agruskin- imeasure ice cream by working out the capacity of the scoop (my ice cream scoops are 30 ml - 1/8th cup) and then i take flattened scops from the tub...so 4 flat scops = 120ml :)

i havent finished eating yet so ill post my food later

hmm, so after i posted i went to weigh myself again-and it said that i was up 2.5lbs from last wk, so completely diff.  i think ill weigh again tomm, its sso hard to get an accurate measure. 

CHARLIE-woah, way too scientific for me!  i just use a spoon and put it into a measuring cup and flatten in down tightly each time i scoop it in.  maybe im flattening it too much bc it starts to melt. lol

suzyroo- hey, thanks for the comments :). haha I know we should only buy full fat things but I can't even get myself to do it I always think.."oh it's saturated, i'll gain weight unhealthily and end up being fat.."

I'm supposed to be eating 2500+ calories to gain like a lb a week. I'm 5'3, 90 lbs anddd I stopped exercising regularly. I only go to the gym to do weights, but I do take walks..

Angeleyes: It's a tricky transition, but switching to whole fat dairy makes getting your calories in a -lot- easier. I lost a lot of choice in the matter after finding out I couldn't have dairy any more - you don't get half-fat soy cheese! Haha. xD

I got a hand in beating fear foods early on after my at the time boyfriend got me to eat a slice of cake, and it was simple from there on compared to a slab of chocolate fudge! Heh. Maybe start slow with the dairy; challenge yourself to eat some full-fat ice cream, or a full-fat yoghurt, and slowly work them into your diet? Or have an egg tomorrow at breakfast or with a snack. :D It's brilliant after a while, because having those little things in your diet from time to time remind you you can enjoy these things in moderation, like any other person would!

Keep with the weights, they'll help you build healthy muscle. I take walks too, and it's hard to make myself not go overboard with them (formerly compulsive over-exerciser) but I find now I can quiet my ED voices just making a 10 minute journey to the supermarket around the corner if I feel an absolute need to do something. I have been trying to learn to ride a bike, though, but even for that my sister monitors me so I don't do too much at one time. Make sure you just don't go overboard on any cardio and do strength/resistance/flexibility workouts as a preference.

2500 sounds like a good number to go by, and you may even need more when it comes down to it! I'm 6'1, somewhere around 110 up from 105.5 at my lowest (I don't weigh at home any more, only at the GP's) and have to eat upwards of 3000 just to gain anything - while sedentary. Trying to gain two lbs a week, but am falling short of that so far. :\ Bleh. It's amazingly difficult some days, but knowing that food is ultimately my medicine makes it a lot easier - and so worth it. I've started seeing muscle in my legs again and I'm really, really happy. :]

Agru: Did you weigh yourself in the middle of the day, or after you'd eaten? Lol. Remember that food and water that you eat beforehand would've made a difference! It's possible for scales to fluctuate 5+ lbs a day, throughout the day, ha. And considering you've only been at about 2000 calories a day I doubt you'd have gained 2.5lbs in a week! Weigh in tomorrow morning, it'll likely give you a more realistic number to go by.

lala, i weighed only a few minutes later w/o eating or anything.  scales are so annoying but ill weigh tomm and take that one i think.  the previous wk it said i gained 1.5 in a wk, so i dunno, maybe i did gain? 

thurs so far-

thomas' bagel square, tbspn pn, apple, cheese~400

cereal, milk, trail mix~200

Agru: Hmm, odd. Even then, I can't see how you'd have gained that much on just 2000 a day average. That'd mean your maintainance would've been 1250 on any of those days of that week to gain 1.5lbs by the end of the week (750 over maintainance a day?), and that -really- doesn't sound right! ><

ugh, so LALA-I think my maintenance is about 1250 bc of the low weight and being just under 5'4.  i HOPE that as i gain my mainteneace will increase?  bc there is no way i could live on 1250 in the future.  so i dunno.  def weighing tomm AM but honeslty the whole maintenace, bmr, all that, still a bit confusing to me!

hi all

feeling very sick today (not good when you need to eat!) i think it's cuz i caught alot of sun yesterday.

argu - try not to weigh so much, you'll get different weights and wind yourself up about which is accurate! i weigh every monday/thursday morning in underwear, in the morning after going to the loo. i'm sure your maintenance will increase - when i came out of hospital 'well' two' years ago, i was maintaining on 2750-3000!

lala - where in the uk are you? hows the ed services? how did you tame your over exercise?? thats my major prob

ok, so today went like this:

Breakfast: porridge made with 150ml alpro light soya milk and vanilla hot choc powder, 45g bran flakes with 200ml alpro light soya milk, sultanas, mixed seeds, pear  = 420ish kcal

 

Snack: alpen bar, pear = 160kcal

 

Lunch: lemon and herb crusted cod loin, mash patooty, cabbage/broccoli/carrots/mushrooms = 250ish kcal

2 non fat yoghurts, 2 crackerbreads with butter and chicken = 150kcal

 

Snack: 40g bran flakes, 200ml alpro light, raisins, mixed seeds, 2 easy peel Clementine’s = 210kcal

 

Dinner: WW pita bread stuffed with smokey quorn ham and salad, pear, yoghurt, snack a jacks salt and vinegar flavour = 420ish kcal

 

Snack: 2 crackerbreads with cream cheese+marmite = 60kcal

 

Snack: porridge made with 150ml alpro light soya milk and hazlenut hot choc powder, yoghurt, 2 easy peel Clementine’s, options hot chocolate, alpen cereal bar = 380kcal

 

 

 

 

Wow i'm getting lost in all these posts it's great the forum is so chatty these days- Should really get to bed so just a food post:

Here's yest:

B:  (pre- work)180ml Kid's Innocent smoothie carton, Agru I tried taking granola bars to work but there just isn't time to eat!- new plan is if I'm gonna miss one of my Ensure plus then I will replace the night time hot choc with a "build-up" hot choc or shake to get some more cals in- it's powder in vanilla, choc, strawb which you mix with milk, nowhere near as heavy as Ensure but still calorific.

S: Ensure plus

L: homemade frittata thing I threw together ( 1 egg, 2 new potatoes, courgette, pepper, onion, garlic, cheddar all chopped up and cooked as a kind of large patty thing!, Activia FF yoghurt

S 1: Ensure plus

S 2: 40g White choc maltesers! Treat indeedy! V.yummy but not something I think I'll be doing every day, hehe.

D: wholemeal wrap with hummus, lettuce, tomatoes, pink lady apple

S: Options hot choc made with 250ml semiskimmed milk

 

....And today:

B: 1 Kid's Innocent smoothie carton

S: Ensure plus

L: 120g poached smoked haddock, tenderstem broccoli and baby corn, rice, 1/3 large mango.

S1: 30g cookie crisp cereal

S2: Ensure plus

D: wholemeal pitta with hummus, cucumber and red pepper slices, tomatoes

S: Options hot chocolate made with 250ml semiskimmed milk

I really feel like this is the real deal in recovery for me, I'm fighting that darn ed, not letting it make me miserable or angry and really forcing myself on the food front- trying to avoid counting though so unsure exactly what kind of figures im getting to- weigh-in tomorrow though, excited but scared too, want to see that number at least to 38kg but at same time it's frightening to see it go up- really suffering with the old constipation at the mo though so hopefully that wont distort my hopes- day off work so have plenty of time for good brekka...all bran with prunes ought to get things moving!

Night night xx